Management apparatus and management method of information processing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A management apparatus includes: a unit to read configuration information of information processing apparatuses, which contains an attribute value of each of information processing apparatuses and a reference relationship between the information processing apparatuses, and log information containing a first type command executed by the information processing apparatuses; a unit to check a parameter value specified by the first type command with the configuration information of information processing apparatuses and to extract path information indicating a relationship between first configuration information of a first information processing apparatus with the first type command being executed and second configuration information of a second information processing apparatus that contains and attribute value coincident with the parameter value; and a unit to generate a second type command with the path information being specified in the first type command in place of the parameter value.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of theprior Japanese Patent Application No. JP2013-070484, filed on Mar. 28,2013, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present invention relates to a management technology of aninformation processing apparatus.

BACKGROUND

In information communication sectors of enterprises, informationcommunication systems (which will hereinafter be simply referred to assystems) are increasingly aggregated at in-office data centers towardstrengthening competitive power in costs. Together with the aggregationof the systems, such a case arises that the systems get complicated, andan operation management cost of the systems rises up to a problematicpoint. For example, in an operation management activity of the systems,procedures and management tools are different on a system-by-systembasis in many cases. Accordingly, an operation manager is requested tooperate an operation management target system while being aware of thissystem in the system operation management as the case may be. Further,in a spot where the system is actually managed, the operation managerperforms a great amount of visual checks and makes human-determinationsfor the system operations, and therefore an operation cost cannot beeasily reduced. Still further, if a mistake happens in the activity, itis also considered that there arises a problem unable to be reckonedsimply in terms of cost such as a loss of a business chance.

Such being the case, automation of the operation management activity isaccelerated by introducing operation activity automated software inorder to decrease manpower and time related to the operation managementactivity and to reduce the operation management cost of the systems.

DOCUMENTS OF PRIOR ARTS Patent Documents

-   [Patent document 1] International Publication WO2010/050524-   [Patent document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open    Publication No. 2010-282486

Non-Patent Documents

-   [Non-Patent document 1] “Configuration Management for Controlling IT    Operation Process, Change Management, Release Management    Systemwalker IT Change Manager V14g” [online], Fujitsu Corporation,    [searched on Mar. 2, 2013], Internet URL is specified by “http://”    and “systemwalker.fujitsu.com/jp/changemanager/.”-   [Non-Patent document 2] “Systemwalker Runbook Automation for    Automating Human-Based Operation Activity According to Operation    Manual” [online], Mar. 2, 2013, Fujitsu Corporation, [searched on    Mar. 2, 2013], Internet URL is specified by “http://” and    “systemwalker.fujitsu.com/jp/runbook/.”-   [Non-Patent document 3] “Systemwalker Service Catalog Manager for    SaaS-Oriented Scheme of In-Office Activity Applications within Short    Period” [online], Fujitsu Corporation, [searched on Mar. 2, 2013],    Internet URL is specified by “http://” and    “//systemwalker.fujitsu.com/jp/sv-catalogmgr/.”-   [Non-Patent document 4] “Configuration Management Database    Federation” [online], Distributed Management Task Force, Inc.,    [searched on Mar. 2, 2013], Internet URL is specified by “http://”    and “www.dmtf.org/standards/cmdbf.”

SUMMARY

One aspect of the technology of the disclosure can be exemplified by aninformation processing apparatus that is given as follows. Theinformation processing apparatus includes: a unit to read configurationinformation of each of one or more information processing apparatuses,which contains an attribute value of each of the one or more informationprocessing apparatuses and a reference relationship between theinformation processing apparatuses, and log information containing afirst type command executed by each of the one or more informationprocessing apparatuses; a unit to check a parameter value specified bythe first type command with the configuration information of each of theone or more information processing apparatuses and to extract pathinformation indicating a relationship between first configurationinformation of a first information processing apparatus with the firsttype command being executed and second configuration information of asecond information processing apparatus that contains an attribute valuecoincident with the parameter value; and a unit to generate a secondtype command with the path information being specified in the first typecommand in place of the parameter value and to allocate the second typecommand to the first information processing apparatus with the firsttype command being executed.

The object and advantage of the embodiment will be realized and attainedby means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating architecture of an informationprocessing system according to a comparative example;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an operation management activity in acase where a change occurs in the architecture of the informationprocessing system in the comparative example;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the operation management activity inthe case where the change occurs in the architecture of the informationprocessing system in the comparative example;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between FCMDB and MDR;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating CI/Relationship;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating functions of the MDR and the FCMDB;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a change of the CI/Relationship;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a hierarchical relationship betweenCIs, formulation of uniform rule and formulation of representative rule;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating how a command log is associated withconfiguration information;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a reference relationship between oneset of configuration information and another set of configurationinformation over a plurality of hierarchies;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating procedures of generating a wrappercommand on the basis of acquiring path information;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a process of acquiring differentpieces of path information from different viewpoints;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a wrapper command generatingprocedure;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a parent-to-child relationship of theconfiguration information.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating keys for determining sibling CIs;

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a process of adding the keys fordetermining the sibling CIs as a uniform rule to a parent CI;

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a process of applying the formulationof uniform rule to the parent-to-child relationship of a higher-orderhierarchy;

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating the parent-to-child relationship aboutwhich the uniform rule cannot be formulated;

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a process of the formulation ofrepresentative rule of the wrapper commands.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating how the wrapper command is inherited;

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of executing batchwisecommands by making use of the wrapper command;

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of executing the wrappercommand;

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a process of preventing a malfunctionof the wrapper command;

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a managementapparatus and a data collecting unit according to a working example;

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the managementapparatus;

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of themanagement apparatus;

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating the configuration information;

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating a command log management table;

FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating a parameter acquiring path candidatelist;

FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating a wrapper command management table;

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating a uniform rule table.

FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating a representative rule table;

FIG. 33 is a flowchart illustrating a process when generating thewrapper command;

FIG. 34 is a flowchart illustrating a process of a wrapper commandexecuting unit;

FIG. 35 is a flowchart illustrating details of a process of aconfiguration information/command log comparing unit.

FIG. 36 is a flowchart illustrating a process of a wrapper commandgenerating unit;

FIG. 37 is a flowchart illustrating details of processes of theformulation of uniform rule and the formulation of representative rule;

FIG. 38 is a flowchart illustrating details of the inheritance of thewrapper command;

FIG. 39 is a flowchart illustrating details of executing batchwise thecommands and prevention of a malfunction.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S)

In a field of information processing system, automation of the operationmanagement activity making use of an automated software may be based ona premise of grasping a series of activity procedures including humanactivity, operations (commands) of information communication devices andinput information (command parameters) etc. needed for the operations.For example, the automation of the operation management activity mayinvolve creating process definitions for defining a series of activityprocedures and require a workload of human-hour for creating processdefinitions in many cases.

An information processing system according to one embodiment willhereinafter be described with reference to the drawings. A configurationof the following embodiment is an exemplification, and the informationprocessing system is not limited to the configuration of the embodiment.

Comparative Example

An information processing system of a data center according to acomparative example will be exemplified with reference to FIGS. 1through 3. As in the information processing system of the data center,in an environment where apparatuses are hierarchically managed, a valuespecified in each of parameters of commands differs corresponding to acommand execution target apparatus or an operating environment of theapparatus even when the same command is executed. Therefore, anoperation manager cannot execute batchwise the commands for operationmanagement with respect to the apparatuses, e.g., servers, installed indifferent operating environments.

FIG. 1 illustrates architecture of the information processing systemaccording to the comparative example. The information processing systemin FIG. 1 includes a plurality of configuration units called “islands”.The island includes a plurality of information processing apparatusessuch as servers. FIG. 1 illustrates an island A and an island B. Theisland A includes an operation server A1 and a management server A.Further, the island B includes an operation server B1 and a managementserver B.

For example, in the island A, when the operation server A1 executes acommand (watch −s) for monitoring the management server A, a value of“management server A” is specified in a command parameter for specifyinga monitoring destination. Herein, such a case is assumed that the islandB also executes this operation management activity. In the operationmanagement activity of the island B, if the operation manager simplycyclically uses the command parameter in the island A, it follows thatthe operation server B1 watches not the “management server B” which isto be originally watched but the “management server A”. Namely, theinformation processing system in FIG. 1 cannot acquire the commandparameter in a way that matches with the environment in which to executethe command.

FIG. 2 illustrates the operation management activity in the case ofchanging the architecture of the information processing system by way ofa comparative example. In the example of FIG. 2, a watching server A2existing as a subordinate under the physical server A and the managementserver A watched by the watching server A2 are provided as tenants of acompany A of the data center. Then, a command “Watch −s managementserver A” for the watching server A2 to watch the management server A isrecorded in command logs of yesterday.

The example of FIG. 2 is that the configuration of the informationprocessing system is changed during a predetermined period, e.g., fromyesterday to today, and the management server A is changed to amanagement server X with respect to the tenants of the company A of thedata center. As a result, the watching server A2 existing as thesubordinate under the physical server A and the management server Xwatched by the watching server A2 are provided as the tenants of thecompany A. On the other hand, the management server A existing as thesubordinate under a physical server B is provided as a tenant of acompany B.

In this situation, such a case is assumed that the command “Watch −smanagement server A” is recorded in the command logs of the commandsexecuted today in the watching server A2. The command “Watch −smanagement server A” in the command logs of the watching server A2 is acommand for watching the management server A, as a watching target, ofthe tenant of the company B. To be specific, the command “Watch −smanagement server A” in the command logs of the watching server A2 isthe same in terms of format as the command “Watch −s management serverA” in the command logs of yesterday, however, the watching target isdifferent from the watching target in the command logs of yesterday.

Accordingly, when the information processing system according to thecomparative example simply compares a plurality of commands with eachother in the command logs and if a change occurs in the configuration ofthe information processing system, a case arises in which a properoperation purpose cannot be recognized. A reason why the properoperation purpose cannot be recognized is that the informationprocessing system illustrated in FIG. 2 does not associate a processinghistory with values of the configuration information, which are used asthe processing parameters at a point of time when the processes areexecuted. Namely, the information processing system in FIG. 2 isdisabled from determining which item of configuration information isused as the parameter of the command for executing an operationmanagement process. Therefore, as depicted in FIG. 2, the informationprocessing system or the operation manager has a risk of erroneouslydetermining a process of an actually different operation purpose to bethe process of the same operation purpose.

FIG. 3 illustrates, similarly to FIG. 2, the operation managementactivity in the case where the configuration of the informationprocessing system is changed during the period, e.g., from yesterday upto today. In FIG. 3, a case is assumed in which the command “Watch −smanagement server A” in the command logs of yesterday is compared with acommand “Watch −s management server X” in the command logs of today. Inthis case, both of the commands are commands for watching the managementservers of the tenants of the company A. The management servers are the“management server A” with respect to tenants of the company A ofyesterday and the “management server X” with respect to the tenants ofthe company A of today. As in FIG. 3, in the architecture according tothe comparative example, if the change occurs in the configuration ofthe information processing system, the information processing system orthe operation manager cannot discriminate between the plurality ofprocesses, recorded in the command logs, of the same operation purposeof managing the servers of the tenants of the company A as the case maybe.

Hence, if the operation environment changes at the data center etc andif the parameters of the commands to be executed can be variedcorresponding to the changed operation environment, a load on theoperation manager can be reduced.

Further, the commands used for the operation management activities inthe past can be referred to from the logs of the operation managementactivities. Accordingly, if the commands recorded in the logs of theoperation management activities can be converted to some other purposes,there exists a possibility of reducing the load on the operationmanager. If the operation environment changes, however, a meaning or apurpose of the command used in the past might be different from that inthe case of the command being used for the past operation managementactivity. Namely, such a case exists that the command for the properoperation management cannot be generated simply by making use of thepast command.

Moreover, if the operation manager can execute the commands batchwisewithout being aware of the difference between the operation environmentsor the change etc in terms of the configuration, a workload (man-hour)of the operation management activity can be decreased. For attainingthis scheme, if capable of determining and acquiring the properparameter value on the occasion of executing the command, there is apossibility that the operation activity of the information processingsystem according to the comparative example can be made more efficient.

Note that it is feasible to refer to the change itself in operationenvironment by making use of a configuration information DB (CMDB:Configuration Management Database) which will be described later on.However, a way of how the change information referred to is reflected inthe command parameter is not formulated.

Working Example

The information processing system according to a working example willhereinafter be exemplified.

<Example of Configuration Management Database>

The configuration management database (CMDB: Configuration ManagementDatabase) utilized by the information processing system according to aworking example will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.Disclosed in recent years were specifications pertaining to the CMDBstoring the configuration information on the operation management of anIT (Information Technology) for unitarily managing the data existing atinterspersed locations (reference URLis specified by “http://” andfollowing strings “www.dmtf.org/standards/cmdbf”).

The specifications disclosed in the URL given above take such anapproach to realization of the CMDB as to virtually integrate aplurality of existing databases. Further, the information processingsystem including the CMDB has an agent (MDR: Management Data Repository)which acquires the data from the existing databases and a manager(Federating CMDB) that manages the MDR acting as agent and provides avirtually integrated database to a client. The database itself, which ismanaged by the Federating CMDB acting as manager, is also called(abbreviated to) FCMDB.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the FCMDB andthe MDR (Management Data Repository). The FCMDB is stored with “CIs”(Configuration Items) representing configuration elements (items) suchas servers and software components of the information processing systemand with “Relationship” representing a relationship between the CIs.

The MDR converts the data collected from the respective databases intothe “CIs” taking a common format and the “Relationship” between the CIs(which will hereinafter be expressed by CI/Relationship), and registersthese converted items of data in the FCMDB. FIG. 4 illustrates an MDR1through an MDR3 which process the respective databases. The MDR1processes, e.g., data of a configuration information database of theinformation processing system, the MDR2 processes data of a database ofapplication information, and the MDR3 processes data of a performanceinformation database.

The Federating CMDB acting as the manager has a function for integratingpieces of information retained in the respective databases. Namely, theFederating CMDB has a function called “reconciliation” (matching,nominal identification) of determining identities of the CIs and theRelationship that are registered in the FCMDB and manages the identifiedCI/Relationship. The identity of the data is determined based on whetheror not an attribute value of the data is coincident with an attributevalue (alternatively a hash value based thereon) set as a key fordetermination (which will hereinafter be referred to as a reconcilekey), which is preset from within attributes retained in common amongthe integration target databases. The reconciliation is conductednormally when registering the CI/Relationship in the FCMDB. If the samesets of CI/Relationship exist within the FCMDB, the manager, i.e., theFederating CMDB merges the same sets of CI/Relationship into one set ofCI/Relationship, thereby integrating the data from the plurality ofdatabases. Further, at this time, a piece of derived informationrepresenting which database (MDR) the information is derived from isalso managed with the FCMDB in the way of being associated with theCI/Relationship. Note that the Federating CMDB as the manager accepts arequest from the client utilizing the FCMDB and sends a response back tothe client.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the CI/Relationship. A system SYS1 isdepicted in FIG. 5. The system SYS1 has a server SVR1, a SOFTWARE1 and aSOFTWARE2. This relationship is, when illustrated based on theCI/Relationship, given as on the right side in FIG. 5. To be specific,the configuration elements such as the system SYS1, the server SVR1, theSOFTWARE1 and the SOFTWARE2 become the CIs (Configuration Items), inwhich the CIs are associated in terms of their relationship with eachother by “Relationships” as indicated by arrows. The“Relationship”-based associating process such as this can be repeatedover a plurality of hierarchies.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating functions of the MDR and the FCMDB. Inan example of FIG. 6, the MDR1-MDR3 individually access the databaseseach taking a unique format, converts the information of the respectivedatabases into the common format and thus register the convertedinformation in the FCMDB. For example, a node A has a description ofIP-based unique identifier (local ID) indicating an IP (InternetProtocol) address as exemplified by IP:192.168.0.1. The node A also hasa local ID such as “NAME” in addition to the above.

Moreover, the server 1 has a description of an ID that specifies anidentifier of the IP address as exemplified by ID:192.168.0.1.Furthermore, the server 1 has a local ID such as “HDD” in addition tothe above.

Further, a host −X has a description of IP_ADDR specifying an identifierof the IP address as exemplified by IP_ADDR: 192.168.0.1. Moreover, thehost −X has a local ID such as CPU_INFO in addition to the above.

The MDR1-MDR3 respectively convert these identifiers into the commonformat such as “ipAddress: 192.168.0.1” and register these IP addressesas the server CIs in the FCMDB.

For example, the server CI registered by the MDR1 and derived from thenode A has pieces of information such as “ipAddress: 192.168.0.1” and“name”. Herein, “name” is defined as an attribute in the common format,which is converted from “NAME” in the unique format of the node A.

Further, the server CI registered by the MDR2 and derived from theserver 1 has pieces of information such as “ipAddress: 192.168.0.1” and“Disk”. Herein, “Disk” is defined as an attribute in the common format,which is converted from “HDD” in the unique format of the server 1.

Still further, the server CI registered by the MDR3 and derived from thehost −X has pieces of information such as “ipAddress: 192.168.0.1” and“CPU”. Herein, “CPU” is defined as an attribute in the common format,which is converted from “CPU_INFO” in the unique format of the node A.Note that details of how the MDR makes the conversion into the commonformat are proposed in, e.g., web pages specified by URL of “http://”and “www.dmtf.org/standards/cmdbf.”, etc and hence the descriptionthereof is omitted.

Herein, it is assumed that the reconcile key is “ipAddress”. The FCMDBdeems the CIs having the same reconcile key as nominally identifiable(name-based aggregatable) CIs and merges the attributes thereof. In theexample of FIG. 6, the FCMDB merges the attributes such as “name”, “CPU”and “Disk” with “ipAddress: 192.168.0.1” serving as the reconcile key,thereby becoming post-reconciliation server CIs. Further, the FCMDBretains the derived information indicating the relationship between eachMDR and the local ID.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating how the CI/Relationship changes.Described is, e.g., a case in which the MDR3 deletes the attributederived from the host −X in the FCMDB of FIG. 6. In this case, theattribute, e.g., “CPU” derived from the host −X is deleted from thepost-reconciliation server CI.

FIG. 8 depicts a hierarchical relationship between the CIs, uniform ruleformulation and representative rule formulation in the informationprocessing system according to the working example. In the presentworking example, a processing example of how a management apparatusmanages the information processing system, will be described. Theinformation processing system includes the configuration elements suchas the servers and the software components. The configuration elementsare described by the configuration information. Further, in the workingexample, the pieces of configuration information for describing theconfiguration elements of the management target information processingsystem are described and managed as the CIs. Accordingly, theconfiguration information is simply referred to as also the CI in theworking example.

Moreover, the management apparatus defines the relationship between theconfiguration elements by a hierarchical reference relationship betweenthe pieces of configuration information. The management apparatusgenerates the reference relationships between the pieces ofconfiguration information (CIs) over the plurality of hierarchies by useof the CI/Relationship illustrated in, e.g., FIGS. 4-7 and stores thereference relationships in the database. In FIG. 8, a circle indicatesthe configuration information (CI), and a line connecting the circlesrepresents the reference relationship. The reference relationshipbetween these pieces of configuration information (CIs) can be, asillustrated in FIGS. 4-7, generated as the CI/Relationship by the FCMDBand the MDR. In the working example, however, it does not mean that thereference relationship between the pieces of configuration informationis limited to the CI/Relationship. The management apparatus may alsodescribe the relationship between the pieces of configurationinformation by other data models, e.g., an entity/relationship model, adata model of an object-oriented database, etc. Further, the managementapparatus may build up a unique data structure in which the relationshipbetween the configuration elements is associated with a pointer.

Furthermore, the management apparatus executes a variety of commands forthe respective configuration elements of the information processingsystem. The management apparatus formulates a uniform rule of thecommands to be executed for the configuration elements by use of thereference relationship between the pieces of configuration information(CIs). In the formulation of the uniform rule, the management apparatus,for instance, in the reference relationships between the pieces ofconfiguration information over the plurality of hierarchies illustratedin FIG. 8, extracts the plurality of configuration elements enabling thesame command to be executed by using the same parameter with respect tothe configuration elements associated with the configuration informationbelonging to the same hierarchy. The command executed for the pluralityof configuration elements associated with the plural pieces ofconfiguration information (CIs) of the same hierarchy by use of the sameparameter such as this, is called a common command.

In the working example, the management apparatus puts a focus on parentconfiguration information (CI) that refers to the plural pieces ofconfiguration information (CIs) describing the plurality ofconfiguration elements, respectively. These plural pieces ofconfiguration information (CIs) are said to exist as subordinates underthe parent configuration information (CI). Then, the managementapparatus extracts the command using the same parameter, which isexecuted in common between or among the configuration elementsassociated with the plural pieces of configuration information (childCIs) existing as the subordinates under the parent configurationinformation (patent CI). This process of extracting the plurality ofconfiguration elements enabling the same command to be executed by usingthe same parameter and defining these extracted configuration elementsunder the parent configuration information (parent CI), is called theformulation of the uniform rule. The command using the same parameter,which is executed for the plurality of configuration elements of thesame hierarchy, is called a “wrapper command”. The wrapper command canbe said to be a common command between or among the child CIs. Thewrapper command is one example of a second type command.

The process of the formulation of the uniform rule is executed over theplurality of hierarchies of the CI/Relationship. In the formulation ofthe uniform rule for the plurality of hierarchies, however, if unable toextract the wrapper command executed for the plurality of configurationelements of the same hierarchy, the process of the formulation of theuniform rule is finished. When finishing the process of the formulationof the uniform rule for the plurality of hierarchies, the configurationinformation (CI) positioned at the highest-order hierarchy in thereference relationships between the plural pieces of configurationinformation (CIs) set as the uniform rule formulating targets, becomesrepresentative configuration information (representative CI) of theuniform rule based on the wrapper command. In the working example, thehighest-order configuration information (CI) in the referencerelationships over the plurality of hierarchies of the CI/Relationshipis called as root configuration information (root CI). In the workingexample, the management apparatus sets, e.g., information used forreferring from the highest-order configuration information (root CI) tothe representative configuration information (representative CI). Aprocess of setting the information for referring to the representativeconfiguration information (representative CI) is called “representing”.The highest-order configuration information (root CI) is one example ofpredetermined configuration information, and the information forreferring to the representative configuration information(representative CI) is one example of reference information.

In the working example, the management system traces the referencerelationships from the represented configuration information(representative CI) and executes the commands in the configurationelements of the information processing system, which are associated withthe pieces of configuration information. On the occasion of executingthe commands, if the common wrapper command executed for the pluralityof configuration elements of the same hierarchy is defined according tothe formulation of the common rule, the command (an example of a firsttype command) is executed based on the wrapper command (an example of asecond type command). Namely, the management apparatus defines thecommands of the same parameter that can be executed in common among theconfiguration elements of the information processing system in theconfiguration information (parent CI) associated with the parentconfiguration element, thereby reducing a management load on theinformation processing system.

<Collections of Command Logs and Configuration Information>

The command executed by the management apparatus is acquired from thecommand logs of the respective configuration elements of the informationprocessing system. One of characteristics of the information processingsystem in the working example lies in such a point that the command logsof the commands executed in the respective configuration elements areassociated with the pieces of configuration information (CIs) of theconfiguration elements existing when generating the command logs.

FIG. 9 illustrates how the command logs are associated with the piecesof configuration information. FIG. 9 depicts the command logs recorded,e.g., one day ago, two days ago and three days ago, and the pieces ofconfiguration information of the configuration elements (the server 1etc) in which to execute the commands of the command logs when therespective command logs are recorded. The command log is generated forevery configuration element of the information processing system. Thecommand logs of the server 1 defined as one of the configurationelements of the information processing system are illustrated on theright side in FIG. 9.

For example, in the command log recorded one day ago, the command “Watch−s management server A” is recorded. It is known from this command logthat the watching of the management server A was implemented in theserver 1. The command log contains a record of date such as “one dayago” and is associated with the configuration information generated oneday ago on the basis of this date. In FIG. 9, the command logs areassociated with the configuration information on the basis of dates,however, it does not mean that the associated pieces of information arerestricted to dates. The information processing system may use date/timefor associating the command logs with the configuration information.Further, the management apparatus of the information processing systemmay use, e.g., an association table, a pointer, etc for associating afile name of the command logs with a file name of the configurationinformation.

Moreover, FIG. 9 illustrates the configuration information correspondingto dates (one day ago etc) of the command logs. Note that the commandlogs are associated not with the individual pieces of configurationinformation associated with the individual configuration elements butwith the whole configuration information corresponding to theinformation processing system. In the example of FIG. 9, theconfiguration information of the server 1 contains an attribute termed“relationship: watching target”, and “management server a” is set as anattribute value. Further, the configuration information of theconfiguration element termed “management server a” has an attributetermed “server name”, and an attribute value termed “management serverA” is set therein.

Moreover, a command “Watch −s management server A” is recorded in thecommand log of the server 1 two days ago. The contents of the commandlog of the server 1 two days ago are the same as those of the commandlog recorded one day ago. Furthermore, as apparent from FIG. 9, theillustrated items of configuration information of the informationprocessing system two days ago are the same as those given one day ago.

On the other hand, a command “Watch −s temporary server X” is recordedin the command log of the server 1 three days ago. Accordingly, thecontents of the command log of the server 1 three days ago are differentfrom the contents of the command log two days ago and from the contentsof the command log one day ago. The configuration information of theserver 1 three days ago, which is associated with the command log threedays ago, has the attribute “relationship: watching target”, and“management server x” is set as an attribute value. Moreover, theconfiguration information of the configuration element “managementserver x” has an attribute “server name”, and an attribute value“temporary server X” is set therein.

By the way, the management apparatus in the working example does settingin a way that specifies a path for acquiring the command parameter inplace of setting a specific value as the command parameter such as Watch−s management server A” or “Watch −s temporary server X”. The commandparameter acquiring path is described in the reference relationship ofthe configuration information from the configuration informationassociated with the configuration element serving as the commandexecution target element, and takes a format indicating the attributevalue corresponding to the parameter value. Then, the managementapparatus, on the occasion of executing the command, traces the commandparameter acquiring path, thus acquires the attribute value indicated bythe acquiring path, and executes the command in the command executiontarget configuration element, e.g., the server 1.

Thus, if the management apparatus sets the command to be executed insuch a format as to specify the parameter acquiring path in the command,there is a possibility that there can be reduced the management loadcaused due to the difference between the parameter given one day ago andthe parameter given three days ago. Namely, in the configurationinformation given one day ago, the parameter of the command executed oneday ago can be acquired from the attribute “server name” of theconfiguration information associated with that attribute value specifiedby the attribute “relationship: watching target”. The same is applied tothe command and the configuration information given three days ago. Inthe example of FIG. 9, as viewed from the configuration information ofthe server 1 defined as the configuration element that executes thecommand, the parameter value “management server A” or “temporary serverX” can be acquired on the same acquiring path. The management apparatusaccording to the working example sets the common command for the pluralconfiguration elements that execute the command enabling the acquiringpath such as this to be commonized. Further, the command specifying theparameter acquiring path in place of the specific parameter value inorder to set the common command, is called the wrapper command. Such acommand characteristic that the specific parameter value is embraced bythe parameter acquiring path, is reflected in a term “wrapper command”.

<Generation of Wrapper Command>

For generating the wrapper command, the management apparatus analyzesthe command logs of the management target configuration element, e.g.,the server 1 etc in FIG. 9, and extracts the command parameters. At thistime, the management apparatus excludes a log in which the execution ofthe command results in an error. Then, the management apparatusspecifies the configuration information (CI) having the extractedcommand parameter as the attribute value. Subsequently, the managementapparatus specifies the parameter acquiring path leading to theconfiguration information (CI) as a reference destination from theconfiguration information (CI) of the configuration element from whichthe command log is acquired.

FIG. 10 illustrates the reference relationships of the pieces ofconfiguration information (CIs) over the plurality of hierarchies. Asalready stated, the information processing system as the managementtarget system, which is managed by the management apparatus in theworking example, includes the plurality of configuration elements. Themanagement apparatus manages the configuration information (CI)containing the descriptions of the attributes of the configurationelements in the way of being associated with the configuration elementsof the information processing system. A relationship as exemplified by arelationship between a watching device and a watched device, existsbetween the configuration elements. Corresponding to this relationship,such a relationship is defined also between one set of configurationinformation (CI) and another set of configuration information (CI) thatthe configuration information (CI) of the watching device refers to theconfiguration information (CI) of the watched device.

The configuration information (CI) associated with these configurationelements can be acquired by the MDR described already above. Further,the reference relationship between one set of configuration information(CI) and another set of configuration information (CI) can be set basedon “Relation” of the CMDB described already above.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the parent-to-child relationship between theconfiguration elements such as disposing a certain server under acertain host, exists between the configuration elements (CIs) includedin the information processing system. In the working example, forinstance, the parent-to-child relationship between the configurationelements is described in the parent-to-child relationship between oneset of configuration information (CI) and another set of configurationinformation (CI). The parent-to-child relationship between one set ofconfiguration information (CI) and another set of configurationinformation (CI) can be also said to be a hierarchical structure inwhich one set of configuration information (CI) refers to another set ofconfiguration information (CI). In the working example, thisparent-to-child relationship between one set of configurationinformation (CI) and another set of configuration information (CI) isdescribed based on the CI/Relationship of the FCMDB. The configurationinformation will hereinafter be notated by “CI” in the working example.

The parent-to-child relationship of the configuration information (CI)is, however, different in terms of a viewpoint for defining thehierarchical structure of the configuration information (CI). Forexample, the hierarchical structure generated in terms of viewpoint ofthe activity in FIG. 10 is generated in terms of standpoint of whattenant each server at the data center is utilized by. In the case oftaking the viewpoint of the activity, the structure is that child CIse.g., a “tenant of company A” and a “tenant of company B” are positionedon a tenant-by-tenant basis under the parent CI, i.e., the “data center”at the highest-order hierarchy. Further, the child CIs, i.e., a“physical server A1” and a “physical server A2” are positioned under theparent CI, e.g., the “tenant of Company A”. Still further, the childCIs, i.e., a “server 1 of company A” and a “server 2 of company A” arepositioned under the parent CI “physical server A1”. Then, the “tenantof company A” exists at a hierarchy of grandfather above the “server 1of company A” and the “server 2 of company A”, and the “data center”exists at the highest-order hierarchy.

On the other hand, the hierarchical structure generated in terms ofviewpoint of a virtualization design is generated in terms of standpointof how each server at the data center is virtually utilized. In the caseof taking the viewpoint of the virtualization design, the structure isthat the child CIs associated with configuration units, e.g., an “islandA” and an “island B” each including a plurality of servers arepositioned under the parent CI “data center”. Moreover, the child CIs,i.e., the “server 1 of company A”, the “server 1 of company B” and the“server 2 of company A” are positioned under, e.g., the parent CI“island A”.

These hierarchical structures are maintained and managed by the FCMDBdescribe already above. Furthermore, the individual pieces ofconfiguration information are collected by the MDR. In the workingexample, configurations and operations of the FCMDB and the MDR areomitted.

The management apparatus obtains the parent CI becoming the parent abovethe configuration element CIs (the servers etc) from which the commandlogs are acquired in terms of any one of the existing viewpoints of theCMDB. Then, the management apparatus, with respect to the child CIsunder the parent CI becoming the parent, executes checking the commandparameter of the same command in the command logs throughout with theattribute value of each of the child CIs under the parent CI. Forexample, the command logs are acquired by the server 1 of the company A,in which case the management apparatus checks the command parameter withthe attribute value about the configuration information (of the CIs)under the “island A” in terms of the viewpoint of the virtualizationdesign in FIG. 10. Similarly, the management apparatus checks thecommand parameter with the attribute value about the configurationinformation (of the CIs) under the “physical server A1” in terms of theviewpoint of the activity.

The management apparatus totalizes, as a result of checking, coincidentchecking results with respect to results of plural executions of thesame command. As a result of the totalization, if the command parameteris coincident with a specified attribute value a predetermined number oftimes (e.g., 50 times) about the results of the plural executions of thesame command, the management apparatus determines that this commandparameter can be acquired from the specified attribute value. Then, themanagement apparatus records path information ranging from theconfiguration information (CI) of the configuration elements (serversetc) from which the command logs are acquired up to the configurationinformation (CI) of the configuration element as a destination fromwhich the attribute value is acquired.

At this time, there is generated the path information which is, even foracquiring the same attribute value, different at every viewpoint of theCMDB. Such being the case, the management apparatus sets, as acquiringpath information, the path information in terms of such a viewpoint asto minimize the number of times (Relationship count) to trace thereference relationships for acquiring the attribute value of the commandparameter.

FIG. 11 depicts a procedure of generating the wrapper command on thebasis of the acquiring path information. The generation of the wrappercommand involves, at first, acquiring a past result of executing thecommand serving as a basis of the wrapper command from the command logsof the respective configuration elements (servers etc) of theinformation processing system. FIG. 11 illustrates the commands acquiredfrom the server 1 and a server 99 as the configuration elements of theinformation processing system. To be more specific, the command “Watch−s management server A” and the command “Watch −s temporary server X”are acquired from the command logs of the server 1. Further, the command“Watch −s management server A” is acquired from the command log of theserver 99.

Moreover, the configuration of the information processing system whenexecuting the commands of the respective command logs in FIG. 11 isdescribed in the configuration information (CI). When the command “Watch−s management server A” is executed in the server 1, the attribute value“management server a” of the attribute “relationship: watching target”is specified in the configuration information of the server 1. Then, theattribute value “management server A” of the attribute “server name” isspecified in the configuration information of the management server a.It is therefore known that the parameter value “management server A” ofthe command “Watch −s management server A” is acquired by referring tothe attribute “server name” of the configuration element that isreferred to by use of the attribute “relationship: watching target” ofthe server which executes the command.

Similarly, when the server 1 executes the command “Watch −s temporaryserver X”, the attribute value “management server x” of the attribute“relationship: watching target” is specified in the configurationinformation (CI) of the server 1. Then, the attribute value “temporaryserver X” of the attribute “server name” is specified in theconfiguration information (CI) of the management server x. Accordingly,it is recognized that the parameter value “temporary server X” of thecommand “Watch −s temporary server X” is acquired by referring to theattribute “server name” of the configuration element that is referred toby use of the attribute “relationship: watching target” of the serverexecuting the command. Namely, the execution results such as “Watch −smanagement server A” and “Watch −s temporary server X” acquired from thecommand logs of the server 1 are the commands executed with theparameters (character strings) that are seemingly different, however, itis recognized that the parameters are the same when described in termsof the acquiring path.

Moreover, similarly to the server 1, in the server 99 also, it ispossible to use the acquiring path acquired from the configurationinformation (CI) of the information processing system when the commandis executed with respect to the parameter of the command “Watch −smanagement server A” obtained from the command log. Then, as in the caseof the server 1 and the server 99, even if the configuration elements(servers) are different in which the commands are operated, it is knownthat there are a case where the parameter value can be acquired from thesame type of attribute in the configuration information and a case wherethe parameter of the command executed by the plurality of configurationelements can be acquired on the same acquiring path.

This being the case, in the example of FIG. 11, a command is describedsuch as “Watch −s server/relationship: watching target/server name”.Then, the management apparatus generates the wrapper command when thesame acquiring path is obtained with samples of a predetermined number,e.g., 50 or more commands. Note that the wrapper command is notgenerated for the configuration element which does not execute thecommand even once in the configuration elements belonging to the sameparent CI. This is because the command log contains no record ofexecuting the command.

FIG. 12 illustrates processes of obtaining different sets of pathinformation in terms of different viewpoints. When changing theviewpoint of the CMDB, there exist plural sets of path information foracquiring the same attribute value as the case may be. If the pluralsets of path information for acquiring the same attribute value exist,the management apparatus sets, as the acquiring path information, thepath information in terms of such a viewpoint as to minimize a referencecount (Relationship count) to perform tracing for acquiring theparameter value. For example, in FIG. 12, in terms of the viewpoint ofthe activity, a path for acquiring the server name of the server 1 ofthe company B from the server 1 of the company A becomes an acquiringpath such as “server/relationship: physical server A1/relationship:tenant of company A/relationship: data center/relationship: tenant ofcompany B/relationship: physical server B/relationship: server 1 ofcompany B/@server name”. On the other hand, in terms of the viewpoint ofthe virtualization design, a path for acquiring the same parameter valuefrom the same configuration element becomes such as“server/relationship: island A/relationship: server 1 of companyB/@server name”.

When executing the command, the management apparatus acquires theattribute value by use of the path information. On this occasion, eachtime when tracing the reference (Relationship) of the configurationinformation, a process of searching for the configuration information(CI) occurs within the CMDB, resulting in a decline of speedperformance. Such being the case, the management apparatus decreases theRelationship count for tracing to the greatest possible degree in orderto restrain the speed performance from declining.

FIG. 13 illustrates a wrapper command generating procedure. It isassumed as a premise of generating the wrapper command that theconfiguration information (CI) and “Relation” of the informationprocessing system are acquired in a way that corresponds to theacquisition of the command logs in the respective configuration elementsof the information processing system. The management apparatus checksthe parameters of the commands having the past results of the executionswithin the command logs with the configuration information (CI), therebyobtaining the acquiring path information of the parameter values. Then,the management apparatus determines that when a predetermined or largernumber of the same sets of acquiring path information are acquired, theacquired acquiring path information can be used as the commandparameter. Then, the management apparatus generates the wrapper commandby employing the acquiring path information in place of the commandparameter when executed. The generated wrapper command is described inthe configuration information of the configuration element (server etc)undergoing the execution of the command.

Note that in the command “Watch −s management server A” of the commandlog in FIG. 13, “−s” is defined as a parameter taking a fixed value andalso as the parameter being out of the processing target when generatingthe wrapper command in the working example. Namely, the parameter valuehaving a possibility of fluctuating each time when executing the commandas in the case of “management server A”, is a processing targetparameter when generating the wrapper command.

With respect to the processes in the working example discussed above,the command logs and the configuration information are separatelycollected but are not associated with each other, in which case thefollowing problems arise:

(1) the configuration information given when executing the commandcannot be specified, and hence the command parameter of the command logcannot be checked with the configuration information (CI);

(2) if there is a time difference (time lag) till the command isexecuted since the configuration information (CI) has been collected,such a possibility exists that the configuration information will be,meanwhile, changed due to another factor; and

(3) there is a possibility that clocks between the servers and productswithin the information processing system are not synchronized.Therefore, in the case of acquiring the command logs individually fromthe different servers and the different products, such a case occursthat highly accurate checking cannot be done unless the configurationinformation (CI) is obtained in the way of being associated with theacquired command logs.

<Formulation of Uniform Rule of Wrapper Commands>

Formulation of a uniform rule of the wrapper commands connotes a processof defining a common wrapper command in the parent CI between or amongthe plurality of CIs under the parent CI. The following are proceduresof formulating the uniform rule of the wrapper commands.

(1) The management apparatus defines, as sibling CIs, the child CIshaving the same wrapper command in the child CIs under the parent CI interms of an arbitrary viewpoint. Namely, the management apparatus deems,as the sibling CIs, the CIs having the same command and the sameacquiring path in the CIs positioned under the same parent CI. It can besaid that the configuration elements corresponding to the sibling CIs ofthe information processing system perform the operation managementactivity with the same command.

FIG. 14 illustrates the parent-to-child relationship of theconfiguration information (CI). In the example of FIG. 14, e.g., interms of the viewpoint of the virtualization design, the parent CIcorresponds to the configuration information of the configurationelement termed the island A. Further, the child CIs correspond to thesets of configuration information of the configuration elements termedthe server A and the server B. The “server A” and the “server B” aredefined as the attribute values of the attributes “relationship” and“child” of the parent CI, thus defining the relationship between theparent CI and the child CIs. It is therefore known in terms of theviewpoint of the virtualization design that the server A and the serverB are in the relationship of having the same island A as the parent CI.It is noted, in terms of the viewpoint of the activity, for instance,the “server A” and the “server X” are defined as the attribute values ofthe attributes “relationship” and “child” in the configurationinformation of the physical server A, however, the “server B” is notdefined. Accordingly, it is known in terms of the viewpoint of theactivity that the server A and the server B are in the relationship inwhich the parent CIs correspond to the different sets of configurationinformation of the different physical servers.

Moreover, in FIG. 14, if the wrapper command in the configurationinformation of the server A is common to the wrapper command in theconfiguration information of the server B, the sets of the configurationinformation of the server A and the server B correspond to the siblingCIs. It is herein assumed that the server A and the server B have thecommon wrapper command and therefore become the sibling CIs.

(2) The management apparatus sets, as keys for determining the siblingCIs, the attribute values that are retained in common between thesibling CIs but are different from the values of the child CIs otherthan the sibling CIs under the same parent CI in the CIs existing whenexecuting the commands, which are associated with the command logs.

FIG. 15 illustrates the keys for determining the sibling CIs. FIG. 15more specifically depicts the sets of configuration information (CI) ofthe server A and the server B illustrated in FIG. 14. The same wrappercommand is retained in the configuration information (CI) of the serverA and the server B. Accordingly, the sets of configuration information(CIs) of the server A and the server B are defined as the sibling CIs.Moreover, both of the sets of configuration information (CIs) of theserver A and the server B have a common attribute value “Linux” of anattribute “OS” and an attribute value “operation software A” of anattribute “software”. This being the case, the attribute value of theattribute “OS and the attribute value of the attribute “software” becomethe keys for determining the sibling CIs.

(3) The sibling CIs exist, then it is recognized that the configurationelements exist, which perform the operation management activities basedon the same rule under the parent CI. At this time, the managementapparatus adds, to the parent CI, a wrapper command name held by thesibling CIs, a list of the sibling CIs and the keys for determining thesibling CIs as the uniform rule.

FIG. 16 illustrates a process of adding the keys for determining thesibling CIs as the uniform rule to the parent CI. An attribute “uniformrule” is added to the configuration information of the island A definedas the parent CI, in which specifically “wrapper command”, target childCIs (“server A, server B”) and “key 1”, “key 2” as the keys fordetermining the sibling CIs, are added thereto.

(4) The management apparatus applies the procedures (1) through (3) tothe parent-to-child relationship of the high-order hierarchy. Namely,the management apparatus deems the parent CI to which the procedures (1)through (3) has been applied as the child CI in the procedure (1), andnext performs the procedures (1) through (3) in a relationship betweenthe parent CI and grandparents CIs.

FIG. 17 illustrates a process of applying the uniform rule to theparent-to-child relationship of the high-order hierarchy. Namely, forexample, the processes of the procedures (1) through (3) are executedfor the child CIs that are in the parent-to-child relationship with theconfiguration information of the data center serving as the parent CIwith respect to the configuration information of the island A defined asthe parent CI illustrated in FIG. 16. To be specific, the common wrappercommand, the target child CIs (island A, island B, etc) and theattribute “key 1” as the key for determining the sibling CIs, which areacquired from the sets of configuration information of the island A andthe island B becoming the child CIs, are added to the configurationinformation of the data center. In the manner described above, theprocesses in the procedures (1) through (3) are recursively executed.The processes in the procedures (1) through (3) may be also said to bethe formulation of the uniform rule.

Thus, the management apparatus repeats the procedures (1) through (3)while tracing the relationships up to the CI (Ex.: data center CI) ofthe highest-order hierarchy (root) as far as the sibling CIs can bedefined between the CIs of the same hierarchy in a flow such as therelationships between the child CI and the parent CI, between the parentCI and the grandparent CI, . . . . The management apparatus, if unableto define the sibling CIs, finishes formulating the uniform rule of thewrapper command and starts formulating the representative rule.

Such a case is considered that, e.g., three islands A, B and C belong tothe data center. When the wrapper command held by the island A does notexist in the islands B and C, this wrapper command is unique to theisland A and is not therefore incorporated into the configurationinformation of the data center defined as the parent. Namely,formulation of the uniform rule is not done. FIG. 18 illustrates aparent-to-child relationship to which the formulation of the uniformrule cannot be applied.

With the formulation of the uniform rule described above, the managementapparatus expands a range of the sibling CIs, i.e., the CIs in which theoperation management activity is conducted based on the same rule (i.e.,the configuration elements associated with the CIs) over the operationalhierarchy. The uniform rule of the wrapper command is maximized, inwhich case the wrapper command comes to a status of being executable byall the servers within the data center.

<Formulation of Representative Rule of Wrapper Command>

In the course of the formulation of the uniform rule, when theformulation of the uniform rule is terminated without attaining theuniformity in the data center throughout, it is known that the wrappercommand can be used under the parent CI with the formulation of theuniform rule being terminated. The parent CI with the formulation of theuniform rule being terminated is named a representative CI. For example,in the example of FIG. 18, the CI of the physical server A is differentin wrapper command from the CI of the physical server B, and hence theprocess of formulating the uniform rule toward the higher-orderhierarchy is finished in the CI of the physical server A and in the CIof the physical server B. In this case, the CI of the physical server Aand the CI of the physical server B, which are defined as the parent CIswith the formulation of the uniform rule being terminated, become therepresentative CIs. In the working example, the management apparatussets, in the CI of the highest-order hierarchy, relational informationindicating the relationships from the CI of the highest-order hierarchydown to the representative CIs and wrapper command names. This settingis named a representative rule. The relational information representingthe relationships from the CI of the highest-order hierarchy down to therepresentative CIs is one example of reference information.

FIG. 19 illustrates a process of formulating the representative rule.The management apparatus adds an attribute “representative rule” to theCI of the highest-order hierarchy, thus defining the wrapper commandbecoming the representative rule. Moreover, the management apparatusdefines the relational information with the parent CI having the wrappercommand A which is already formulated via the formulation of the uniformrule as an attribute value of an attribute “representative”. Theformulation of the representative rule enables the management apparatusto specify the parent CI with the wrapper command being executable. Notethat the generation of the wrapper command, the formulation of theuniform rule and the formulation of the representative rule are alsoreferred in combination to as abstraction of the command.

For instance, in FIG. 19, the CI termed “data center” exists at thehighest-order hierarchy, in which a CI termed “tenant of company A”exist as a child CI of the CI “data center”. A CI termed “name” willhereinafter be simply called “name” CI. It is supposed that in FIG. 19,the “physical server A” CI further exists as the child CI of the “tenantof company A” CI. Then, the wrapper command A is defined so that thewrapper command A is executed in the “physical server A” CI as therepresentative CI. Therefore, the relational information (“tenant ofcompany A/physical server A”) with respect to the representative CI withthe wrapper command being executed is defined in the “data center” CI ofthe highest-order hierarchy.

<Inheritance of Wrapper Command>

FIG. 20 illustrates how the wrapper command is inherited. Inheritance ofthe wrapper command is a function of applying the wrapper commandgenerated in one set of configuration information (CI) to another set ofconfiguration information (CI) in which any wrapper command is not yetgenerated. For the inheritance of the wrapper command, the managementapparatus takes the following procedures.

(1) The management apparatus collects sets of information defined as CIs(unknown CIs) where the wrapper command is not yet generated within thechild CIs under the parent CI in terms of an arbitrary viewpoint. Forexample, the management apparatus collects any of the sets ofconfiguration information (CIs) with the wrapper command being disabledfrom being generated due to none of the past results of the operationsof the configuration elements (servers etc) and sets of configurationinformation (CIs) that are newly added. Herein, the CI with theinformation being collected will hereinafter be called a non-setting CI.(2) The management apparatus, if attribute values of the non-setting CIsare coincident by a value equal to or larger than a predetermined value,e.g., 30% with values of the keys for determining the sibling CIs thatare held by candidate CIs under the parent CI to which the non-settingCIs belong, determines that the same rule as a rule of the candidate CIscan be applied to the non-setting CIs. Then, the management apparatusadds the non-setting CIs as the sibling CIs of the candidate CIs.Moreover, for instance, if the values of the non-setting CIs arecoincident by the value equal to or larger than 30% with values of thekeys for determining the sibling CIs of the plurality of candidate CIs,the management apparatus adds the non-setting CI as the sibling CI ofthe candidate CI exhibiting the highest rate of the value of the key fordetermining the coincident sibling CI.(3) The wrapper command held by the sibling CI of the adding destinationof the non-setting CI is set in the non-setting CI.

The child CI applied with the procedures (1) through (3) is deemed asthe parent CI in the procedure (1), and next the procedures (1) through(3) are carried out in the relationship between the child CI and thegrandchild CI. FIG. 20 illustrates the procedures described above. InFIG. 20, the management apparatus compares values of attributes of thenon-setting CI indicated as “new child” with the values of the keys fordetermining the sibling CIs, which are defined as the values of theattributes “key 1” and “key 2” set in the attribute “uniform rule” ofthe parent CI. Then, as a result of the comparison, if the values of theattributes of the configuration information of the non-setting CI arecoincident by a value equal to or larger than the predetermined valuewith the values of the keys for determining the sibling CIs, themanagement apparatus adds a name “server X” of the configuration elementof the non-setting CI to the parent CI as the target, and also adds thewrapper command set in the parent CI to the non-setting CI.

Thus, the management apparatus iterates the procedures (1) through (3)in a way that traces the relationships from the configurationinformation of the highest-order hierarchy down to the configurationinformation (e.g., the configuration information of the server) of thelowest-order hierarchy in a direction reversed to the formulation of theuniform rule in a flow such as the relationships between the parent CIand the child CI, between the child CI and the grandchild CI, . . . .With this process, the management apparatus expands the range of theconfiguration information (CI) that can be operated by the same wrappercommand over the operational hierarchy.

Note that in the processing examples described above, when adding theconfiguration information of the non-setting CI, e.g., 30% is set as thepredetermined value for making the determination through the comparisonwith the value of the key for determining the sibling CI. If thispredetermined value is set higher, it follows that the wrapper commandis executed more precisely. If this predetermined value is high,however, the range to which the wrapper command is applied becomesnarrow corresponding to an increasing degree.

<Batchwise Execution of Commands Using Wrapper Command>

FIG. 21 depicts a procedure of executing batchwise the commands byutilizing the wrapper command. When completing the abstraction and theinheritance of the wrapper command, the management apparatus retains allof the wrapper command names and the information (the uniform rule orthe representative rule) of the servers with the individual wrappercommand being executable.

(1) As in FIG. 21, for instance, when the manager of the informationprocessing system executes the wrapper command from the “data center” CIas the CI of the highest-order hierarchy, the management apparatus getsthe commands executed batchwise by all of the servers having the samewrapper command in the following procedures. The wrapper command isgenerated in such a manner that the parameters for the commands areunified between the plurality of CIs and can therefore be said also tobe an abstracted command. In the following procedures, the managementapparatus replaces a parameter of the abstracted wrapper command by aspecific value. This replacement of the parameter is also said to beinterpretation. The management apparatus interprets the wrapper commandand gets the interpreted wrapper command executed remotely by therelevant server.(2) The management apparatus, if the representative rule exists, shiftsto the representative CI by use of the relational information set in therepresentative rule. As already described, FIG. 19 illustrates therepresentative rule. To be specific, the relational information (tenantof company A/physical server A) with respect to the representative CIwith the wrapper command being executed is defined in the “data center”CI of the highest-order hierarchy. Then, the management apparatus shiftsto the “physical server A” CI as the representative CI from, e.g., the“data center” CI while tracing the relational information.(3) The management apparatus shifts from upward of the hierarchy todownward of the hierarchy up the CI corresponding to the server capableof wrapper command by making use of a list of sibling CIs set in theuniform rule of the representative CI. The management apparatus can alsosearch for the server to execute the wrapper command by making use ofthe uniform rule. Note that the management apparatus, when searching forthe server, implements preventing the wrapper command from beingerroneously operated by each server defined in the individual CI of ashift destination as will be described later on.(4) Further, the management apparatus gets each individual server toexecute the command in accordance with a described content of thewrapper command in a way that specifies the command parameter acquiredfrom the CI by making use of the acquiring path information. Herein, themanagement apparatus gets each of the individual servers connected toeach other via the network to execute the command and can therefore use,e.g., a remote execution technology such as Remote Procedure Call andSecure Shell (SSH).

FIG. 22 illustrates an example of executing the wrapper command in theinformation processing system in which the formulation of uniform ruleis attained up to the CI “data center” defined as the configurationinformation (CI) of the highest-order hierarchy. Accordingly, ascompared with the processing example in FIG. 21, the shift to therepresentative CI is omitted in FIG. 22.

Note that in place of the command remote execution in the managementapparatus as described above, the management apparatus may support themanager who manages the information processing system to execute thecommand. For example, the management apparatus may, in the procedures(1) through (3), after executing the shift to the representative CI, theshift to the sibling CI and the prevention of the malfunction of thewrapper command, present the command with the wrapper command beinginterpreted into the attribute of the server to the manager. The managermay remotely execute the command according to the presentation givenfrom the management apparatus. For the remote execution, the manager maymanually specify the command execution target server.

The management apparatus may notify the manager of the command to beexecuted in response to a query given from the manager. When the managerqueries the management apparatus about the command in a way thatspecifies the wrapper command and the execution target server, themanagement apparatus may notify the manager of a post-interpretingcommand into the attribute of the execution target server. The managermay shift to the server on the network by, e.g., the manual operation,may directly execute the notified command and may perform an intendedactivity.

<Prevention of Malfunction of Wrapper Command>

FIG. 23 illustrates a process of preventing a malfunction of the wrappercommand. With the batchwise execution of the commands, before executingthe wrapper command, in the procedure depicted in FIG. 22, themanagement apparatus prevents the malfunction of the wrapper command inthe execution target server.

(1) The management apparatus collects the CIs of the wrapper commandexecution target servers, and compares the latest attribute value withthe key for determining the sibling CI. The latest attribute value isone example of a present value. Note that the latest CIs are to becollected by the MDR in the working example. A processing example of theMDR collecting the configuration information has already been proposedon the Website etc described above, and hence an in-depth descriptionthereof is omitted in the present working example.

For example, in an example of FIG. 23, “key 1” (e.g., a name of the OS)and “key 2” (e.g., the name of the software to be executed) are definedin the parent CI as the keys for determining the sibling CIs based onthe uniform rule. Then, the management apparatus compares the keys fordetermining the sibling CIs that are defined in the parent CI with theCIs of the child CIs.

(2) As a result of the comparison, if the number of coincident attributevalues is equal to or smaller by a predetermined value (e.g., 30%) thanthe number of the keys for determining the sibling CIs, it is presumedthat the environment of the target server changes from when formulatingthe wrapper command in the uniform rule or from when the wrapper commandis inherited. Then, the management apparatus stops executing the wrappercommand with respect to the target server. Furthermore, the targetserver does not satisfy a condition for the sibling CI and is thereforeexpelled from the sibling CIs by the management apparatus. In theexample of FIG. 23, “wrapper command A” is deleted from the “server B”CI, and the server B is also deleted from the list of the sibling CIsindicating the execution targets of the wrapper command in the uniformrule of the parent CI.

Note that in the case of not executing the prevention of the malfunctionin the procedures described above, for example, it follows that themanager manually creates a prerequisite of the wrapper command andmanually checks the operation environment. Namely, it follows that themanager checks whether the wrapper command manually created in the pastis still executable at the present or not. A human-based method expendsa considerable amount of man-hour and also has a possibility of notsatisfying the prerequisite due to a change in environment that occursduring a period till executing the wrapper command after being checked.

In recent years, the servers have been increasingly aggregated at thedata center. Moreover, with advancements of cloud computing systems,servers are frequently allocated and returned in ICT (Information andCommunication Technology). As a result, system architecture in the datacenter dynamically changes and becomes complicated. Consequently, anincrease in operation management cost of the system becomes a problem.Problems solved by the management apparatus in the present workingexample newly arise in the environment where the servers are aggregatedor in the environment using the cloud computing systems as describedabove.

<System Architecture>

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a managementapparatus 10 and data collecting units 2. Note that in the case ofindividually distinguishing between the data collecting units 2, theseunits are termed such as a data collecting unit 2-1 and a datacollecting unit 2-2. The data collecting unit 2 is, e.g., a serverfunctioning as the MDR. The data collecting unit 2 acquires theconfiguration information (CI) of the configuration elements and thecommand logs of the information processing system as the managementtarget, and registers the acquired configuration information (CI) andcommand logs in a data management table within the management apparatus10. The data management table can be stored in, e.g., the FCMDB.

The management apparatus 10 includes a wrapper command processing unit100 to generate and execute the wrapper command by use of the datamanagement table storing the configuration information (CI) of theconfiguration elements and the command logs of the informationprocessing system. The manager of the information processing systeminstructs the management apparatus 10 to generate or execute the wrappercommand, while the management apparatus 10 executes processes related tothe wrapper command such as generating or executing the wrapper commandaccording to the instruction of the manager.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the managementapparatus 10 including the wrapper command processing unit 100. Asdescribed above, the data collecting unit 2 acquires the configurationinformation and the command logs of the information processing system asthe management target, and registers the acquired configurationinformation and command logs in a configuration information/command logmanagement table within the management apparatus 10.

In the working example, the management apparatus 10 further includes awrapper command management table 104. Moreover, the management apparatus10 includes, generically as the wrapper command processing unit 100, aconfiguration information/command log comparing unit 101, a wrappercommand generating unit 102 and a wrapper command executing unit 103.The management apparatus 10 executes a computer program on a mainstorage device as, e.g., the wrapper command processing unit 100, theconfiguration information/command log comparing unit 101, the wrappercommand generating unit 102 and the wrapper command executing unit 103.

<<Configuration Information/Command Log Comparing Unit>>

The configuration information/command log comparing unit 101 reads thecommand logs and the CIs, checks the command parameters with theattribute values of the configuration information, and thus generates aparameter acquiring path candidate list. The configurationinformation/command log comparing unit 101 is one example of a unit toread the configuration information and log information containing thecommands executed by the respective information processing devices.

<<Wrapper Command Generating Unit>>

The wrapper command generating unit 102 generates the wrapper commandfrom the parameter acquiring path candidate list generated by theconfiguration information/command log comparing unit 101, and registersthe generated wrapper command in the wrapper command management table104.

Further, the wrapper command generating unit 102 generates the uniformrule and the representative rule, and registers the generated rulesrespectively in the wrapper command management table 104.

Moreover, the wrapper command generating unit 102 makes a determinationas to the inheritance of the wrapper command, and registers the CI addedto the sibling CIs in the wrapper command management table 104.

<<Wrapper Command Executing Unit>>

The wrapper command executing unit 103 searches for the servers with thewrapper command being executable by making use of the wrapper commandmanagement table 104.

Furthermore, the wrapper command executing unit 103 executes preventinga malfunction before executing the wrapper command. To be specific, thewrapper command executing unit 103 makes a determination about theexecution of the wrapper command, and deletes a server not satisfying anexecuting condition from the wrapper command management table.

<<Configuration of Hardware>>

FIG. 26 illustrates a configuration of hardware of the managementapparatus 10. The management apparatus 10 includes a CPU (CentralProcessing Unit) 11, a main storage device 12, an external storagedevice 13, a communication interface 14, a portable storage mediumconnecting device 15, a display device 16, an input device 17, etc.

The CPU 11 executes a computer program deployed in an executable manneron the main storage device 12, thereby providing functions of themanagement apparatus 10. The CPU 11 may be configured to include,without being limited to a single core, a plurality of cores.

The main storage device 12 stores the computer program executed by theCPU 11 and with data etc processed by the CPU 11. The main storagedevice 12 may be configured to include a nonvolatile ROM (Read OnlyMemory) and a volatile DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory). The externalstorage device 13 is exemplified by a hard disk driven by a hard diskdrive, a solid-state drive (SSD) using a flash memory, and so on. Theexternal storage device 13 is stored with the computer program deployedon the main storage device 12 or the data etc processed by the CPU 11.

The communication interface 14 is also called a NIC (Network InterfaceCard). The communication interface 14 is, e.g., a LAN (Local AreaNetwork) interface. The portable storage medium I/O device 15 is anInput/output device such as a CD (Compact Disc), a DVD (DigitalVersatile Disk), a Blu-ray disc and a flash memory card.

The display device 16 is exemplified such as a liquid crystal displayand an electroluminescence panel. The display device 16 is connected tothe CPU 11 via an interface. The interface is exemplified by a graphicmodule such as VGA (Video Graphics Array) and an interface such as DVI(Digital Visual Interface). The input device 17 is an input device suchas a keyboard, a mouse a touch panel and an electrostatic pad.

Note that FIG. 26 illustrates a single computer as the managementapparatus 10. The management apparatus 10 may also be a system includinga plurality of computers allotting and thus executing processes incooperation with each other. In this case, it does not mean that thereis a limit to a physical distance between the plural computers.

<Example of Data>

FIG. 27 illustrates the configuration information (CI). Theconfiguration information is collected by the data collecting unit 2from the information processing system set as a management target andregistered in the database such as CMDB. The configuration informationcontains records each having values registered in, e.g., a “GID” field,a “name of type” field, a “relationship” field, an “attribute” field anda “collecting time” field. In FIG. 27, the record itself is also said tobe the configuration information (CI). An aggregation of the registeredrecords is also said to be a set of configuration information.

The “GID” field is stored with identifying information for identifyingthe configuration element associated with each record of theconfiguration information (CI). Herein, the configuration elementrepresents each device of the management target information processingsystem. Accordingly, the GID is unique in the management targetinformation processing system throughout. Further, the GID can be saidto be information for uniquely identifying the CI.

The “name of type” field is stored with a name of a device type. Thename of the device type is a name of the configuration element of themanagement target information processing system, and represents a typeetc of the configuration element associated with each record. Forexample, the name of device type is exemplified such as the server, thephysical server, the tenant, the island and the data center. Further,the tenant or the island is defined as a generic name of device typegiven to an aggregation of plural servers.

The “relationship” field is stored with information becoming “Relation”of the CI. In the example of FIG. 27, the “relationship” field is storedwith the GIDs (referent GIDs) of other CIs of referents. The referentGID is the GID of the record (CI) in a hierarchical relationship, whichis referred to from the record (CI) of a referrer. The managementapparatus searches for the GIDs described in the relationship, therebyrecognizing the hierarchical relationship of the configurationinformation.

The “attribute” field is stored with definitions of name of attributesand attribute values possessed by the respective configuration elements.In the working example, a plurality of attributes can be defined in aformat such as “attribute name=attribute value” in the “attribute”field.

The “collecting time” field is stored with date/time when the record isregistered. The collecting date/time can be also said to be date/timewhen attributes of the record are collected.

FIG. 28 illustrates a command log management table. The command logmanagement table is stored with an aggregation of the command logscollected by the data collecting unit 2 from the management targetinformation processing system. The command log management table isstored in the database such as the CMDB. The command log managementtable contains records each having values registered in, e.g., a“command” field, a “parameter 1” field, a “parameter 2” field, an“execution server” field, an “execution time” field.

Note that FIG. 28 illustrates a case of having the two parameter fields(parameter 1, parameter 2). It does not, however, mean that the numberof the fields stored with the parameters in the command log managementtable is limited to “2”. For instance, the number of the parameterfields may be a number corresponding to a maximum parameter count in thecommands executed in the management target information processingsystem. Further, for example, the number of the parameter fields mayalso be a number corresponding to a maximum parameter count in thecommands becoming targets for generating the wrapper command. It is tobe noted that the management apparatus 10 may be provided with thecommand log management tables which are different for every parametercount of the commands.

The “command” field is stored with names of the commands executed in theservers etc within the management target information processing system.The “parameter 1” field and the “parameter 2” field are stored withparameter values specified by the respective commands. The “executionserver” field is stored with pieces of identifying information foridentifying the servers with the commands being executed. FIG. 28illustrates an example of registering IP addresses in the “executionserver” field. It does not, however, mean that the value set in the“execution server” field is limited to the IP address, and the value maybe, for instance, a MAC (Media Access Control) address, a name of a nodeon the network, etc. The “execution time” field is stored with date/timewhen the command is executed.

FIG. 29 illustrates a parameter acquiring path candidate list. Each ofrecords of the parameter acquiring path candidate list contains adefinition of the path for the configuration information/command logcomparing unit 101 to acquire the parameter with respect to each of thecommands becoming candidates of the wrapper command. As alreadyexplained in FIG. 11, the management apparatus 10 (wrapper commandgenerating unit 102) acquires the command and the parameter from thecommand log stored in the command log management table in FIG. 29, andgenerates the wrapper command concretely by specifying the parameteracquiring path in place of the parameter. Each of the records of theparameter acquiring path candidate list contains a description of eachparameter acquiring path with respect to each of the commands of thecommand log. The management apparatus 10 generates the wrapper commandwhen obtaining the same acquiring path with samples of a predeterminednumber, e.g., 50 or larger number of commands on the basis of theparameter acquiring path candidate list.

As in FIG. 29, the parameter acquiring path candidate list containsrecords each having values registered in a “command” field, a “parameter1” field, a “parameter 2” field, a “parameter 2 acquiring path” field, a“parameter 2 acquiring Relation count” field, an “execution server”field and an “execution time” field.

Herein, the “command” field is stored with names of the commandsacquired from the command log. The “parameter 1” field and the“parameter 2” field are respectively stored with parameters specified bythe commands. In these parameters, in the example of FIG. 29, a value ofthe parameter 1 is a fixed parameter (“−s” etc). Further, a value of theparameter 2 is a variable parameter (the identifying information of theserver etc).

The “parameter 2 acquiring path” field is stored with a path foracquiring the value of the parameter 2. For example, the path is definedsuch as “server/relationship/server/@IP address” by use of therelationships of the configuration information in FIG. 27. Thedefinition of “server/relationship/server/@IP address” implies using theIP address given in the configuration information (referent server CI)of the referent server that is specified as the attribute value of theattribute “relationship”, e.g., in the configuration information (serverCI) of the server with the command being executed. However, theparameter acquiring path in FIG. 29 is one example, and it does not meanthat the specification is limited to the format in FIG. 29.

A value given in the “parameter 2 acquiring Relation count” fieldspecifies the number of relationships that are referred to till reachingthe value in the case of tracing the parameter acquiring paths. The“execution server” field and the “execution time” field are the same asthose of the command log management table in FIG. 28.

Note that the parameter 2 is the parameter of which the value isvariable, and the acquiring path of the parameter value is describedwith respect to the parameter 2. It does not, however, mean that theparameter 2 acquiring path list is limited to the structure in FIG. 29.For example, it does not mean that the number of parameters is limitedto “2”. Moreover, it does not mean that the parameter having thevariable value is limited to the parameter 2. It does not mean that thenumber of the parameter(s) having the variable value is limited to “1”.For instance, in the case of generating the wrapper command with respectto the commands each having two or more parameters with their valuesbeing variable, the management apparatus 10 may provide the fields suchas “parameter”, “parameter acquiring path” and “parameter acquiringRelation count” by the number of the parameters having the variablevalues. Note that the management apparatus 10 may also provide theparameter acquiring path candidate lists that have different structurescorresponding to the number of the parameters having the variablevalues.

FIG. 30 illustrates a wrapper command management table 104. The wrappercommand management table 104 is a table registered with the wrappercommand generated by the wrapper command generating unit 102. Thewrapper command management table 104 contains a value of “GID”, a valueof “wrapper command ID”, a value of “command” and sets of values(“parameter”, “type”, “value”). Note that two sets of values(“parameter”, “type”, “value”) are specified with respect to one command(GID) in FIG. 30, however, it does not mean that the number of valuesets (“parameter”, “type”, “value”) with respect to one command islimited to “2”.

The “GID” field is, as described in the configuration information ofFIG. 27, stored with pieces of identifying information of theconfiguration elements (devices such as the servers) of the managementtarget information processing system. The “wrapper command ID” field isstored with information for uniquely identifying each of the records ofthe wrapper command management table 104. The “command” field is storedwith a name of each of the commands acquired from the command log.

The parameters of the commands with respect to the wrapper commands arespecified in the (“parameter”, “type”, “value”) set fields. In thesefields, the “parameter” field is stored with pieces of information foridentifying the parameters such as parameter 1 and parameter 2.Furthermore, the “type” field is stored with types of the parameters.The types of the parameters are, e.g., a fixed value, acquiring pathinformation, etc. Moreover, the “value” field is stored with parametervalues. However, if the information stored in the “type” field is the“acquiring path information”, the “value” field is stored with theacquiring path for acquiring the parameter from the configurationelement specified by the GID. The acquiring path is defined by, e.g.,“server/relationship/physical server/@IP address” etc.

FIG. 31 illustrates a uniform rule table. The uniform rule table is atable containing definitions of the keys for determining the sibling CIswith respect to the individual wrapper commands. The wrapper commandgenerating unit 102, when determining the sibling CIs or executing theinheritance (of the wrapper command), refers to the uniform rule table.

The uniform rule table includes a “GID” field, a “wrapper command ID”field, a “target” field and a “key for determining sibling CI” field. Inthese fields, the “GID” field, and the “wrapper command ID” field arethe same as those in the wrapper command management table in FIG. 30,and hence their descriptions are omitted. The configuration element onwhich the execution of the wrapper command is targeted is specified inthe “target” field. A plurality of configuration elements (GIDs) isspecified in the “target” field, in which case the specifiedconfiguration elements connote the configuration elements having therelationship of the sibling CIs with each other. In the example of FIG.31, the GIDs of the configuration elements are specified in the “target”field. Further, the “key for determining sibling CI” field is storedwith the keys for determining the sibling CIs.

FIG. 32 illustrates a representative rule table. The representative ruletable contains definitions of paths each extending from the CI of thehighest-order hierarchy down to the representative CI of each wrappercommand. As in FIG. 32, the representative rule table includes a “GID”field, a “wrapper command ID” field, a “target” field and a “relationalinformation” field. In these fields, the “GID” field, and the “wrappercommand ID” field are the same as those in the wrapper commandmanagement table in FIG. 30, and hence their descriptions are omitted.The “target” field is stored with the representative CIs of therespective wrapper commands. The GID of the configuration elementassociated with the representative CI is set in the example of FIG. 32.Further, the “relational information” field is stored with the pathseach extending from the CI of the highest-order hierarchy down to therepresentative CI of each wrapper command. In the example of FIG. 32,the path extending to a tenant (GID002) is defined with the “datacenter” CI serving as the highest-order hierarchy.

<Processing Flow>

FIGS. 33-39 illustrate flowcharts of processes executed in themanagement apparatus 10. The CPU 11 of the management apparatus 10executes, as the wrapper command generating unit 102, the process inFIG. 33 in accordance with the computer program deployed in theexecutable manner on the main storage device 12. The CPU 11 of themanagement apparatus 10 executes, as the wrapper command executing unit103, the process in FIG. 34 in accordance with the computer programdeployed in the executable manner on the main storage device 12.

FIG. 33 is the flowchart depicting the processes when generating thewrapper command. In this process, the configuration information/commandlog comparing unit 101 and the wrapper command generating unit 102execute generating the wrapper command (S1). Note that specificprocesses of generating the wrapper command will be described later onaccording to FIGS. 35 and 36.

Next, the wrapper command generating unit 102 executes formulating theuniform rule of the wrapper command (S2-1). Subsequently, the wrappercommand generating unit 102, if the representative CI exists in eachwrapper command, executes formulating the representative rule (S2-2).The formulation of the uniform rule and the formulation of therepresentative rule will be described later on according to FIG. 37.Next, the wrapper command generating unit 102 executes the inheritanceof the wrapper command (S4). The inheritance of the wrapper command willbe explained later on according to FIG. 38.

FIG. 34 is the flowchart illustrating a process of the wrapper commandexecuting unit 103. In this process, at first, the wrapper commandexecuting unit 103 executes batchwise the commands (S5-1). However, thewrapper command executing unit 103 executes preventing a malfunctiontogether with the batchwise execution of the commands (S5-2). Anin-depth description of the process of the wrapper command executingunit 103 will be made later on according to FIG. 39.

FIG. 35 illustrates details of the process of the configurationinformation/command log comparing unit 101. FIG. 35 illustrates awrapper command generating process with respect to the configurationelements, e.g., the servers associated with the child CIs under oneparent CI. Accordingly, the wrapper command generating unit 102 cangenerate the wrapper command about the configuration elements associatedwith the CIs belonging to the respective hierarchies by repeating theprocess while changing the parent CI in the reference relationship ofthe CIs of a plurality of hierarchies in terms of different viewpointsillustrated in FIG. 10.

Further, FIG. 35 illustrates the wrapper command generating process withrespect to one command. Accordingly, the configurationinformation/command log comparing unit 101 and the wrapper commandgenerating unit 102 can assemble the plural commands into the wrappercommand, which are executed in the management target informationprocessing system, by repeating the process while changing the commandexecuted in the management target information processing system.

In FIG. 35, the configuration information/command log comparing unit 101executes repetitions by the number of the servers associated with thechild CIs under the same parent CI (S11). Further, the configurationinformation/command log comparing unit 101 executes the repetitions bythe number of executions of the commands in the servers set as theprocessing targets at the present (S12).

Then, the configuration information/command log comparing unit 101acquires one of results of the executions of the commands from thecommand log of the processing target servers at the present.Subsequently, the wrapper command generating unit 102 obtains theparameter and execution date/time of each of the acquired commands.Then, the configuration information/command log comparing unit 101searches for the configuration information of the server associated withthe execution date/time of the command in order to compare the commandparameter with the configuration information of the server associatedwith the execution date/time of the command (S13). Note that the processin S13 is repeatedly executed based on the determination in S15 withrespect to, in addition to the server set as the processing target atthe present, other servers being close in terms of the referencerelationship (Relation) from this processing target server at thepresent. Moreover, as viewed from the processing target server at thepresent, the reference relationship (Relation) traced till reaching theconfiguration information searched for in S13 is called an acquiringpath. The acquiring path is, however, a path up to the configurationinformation coincident with the parameter value and is therefore calledalso a configuration information acquiring path. Furthermore, as aresult of the process in FIG. 36, the acquiring path used for thewrapper command is called a parameter acquiring path. The configurationinformation/command log comparing unit 101 executes the process in S13by way of one example of a unit to read the configuration informationand the log information containing the commands executed in each of theinformation processing apparatuses.

Then, the configuration information/command log comparing unit 101determines whether the same value as the command parameter exists in theattributes of the searched configuration information or not (S14). Ifdetermining in S14 that there exists the attribute of the configurationinformation that takes the same value as the command parameter, theconfiguration information/command log comparing unit 101 assembles threeitems of data such as the configuration information acquiring path, thecommand execution date/time and the acquiring path referencerelationship (Relation) count as 3-tuple data, and adds this 3-tupledata to the parameter acquiring path candidate list (S16).

Whereas if determining in S14 that there does not exist the attribute ofthe configuration information that takes the same value as the commandparameter, the configuration information/command log comparing unit 101determines whether or not there exists an unsearched CI in thosetraceable along the reference relationship (Relation) of the CIassociated with the processing target server at the present (S15). Ifdetermining in S15 that the unsearched CI exists, the wrapper commandgenerating unit 102 loops the control back to S13, then searches foranother CI being close next at the hierarchy of the referencerelationship (Relation), and iterates the processes from S13 onward.Whereas if determining in S15 that the unsearched CI does not exist, thewrapper command generating unit 102 repeats the repetitions in S12 andfurther the repetitions in S11.

FIG. 36 is a flowchart illustrating a process of the wrapper commandgenerating unit 102. The wrapper command generating unit 102 executes,after the process of the configuration information/command log comparingunit 101 depicted in FIG. 35, the process illustrated in FIG. 36. Inthis process, the wrapper command generating unit 102 determines whetheror not a predetermined number, e.g., 50 or larger number of sameacquiring paths exist in the parameter acquiring path candidate listacquired by the repetitions in S11 and S12 (S17).

If it is determined in S17 that the predetermined number of sameacquiring paths exist in the parameter acquiring path candidate list,the wrapper command generating unit 102 defines, as the parameteracquiring path information, the acquiring paths with a minimum referencerelationship (Relation) count of the relationships traced till obtainingthe value (the attribute in the configuration information) in parameteracquiring path candidates, and stores this parameter acquiring pathinformation in the main storage device 12 (S18). The wrapper commandgenerating unit 102 executes the processes in S17 and S18 by way of oneexample of a unit to check a parameter value specified by the first typecommand with the configuration information of each of the one or moreinformation processing apparatuses and to extract the path information.

Then, the wrapper command generating unit 102 generates the wrappercommand in the processing target server with the parameter acquiringpath information being defined, and stores the wrapper commandinformation in the wrapper command management table (S19). The wrappercommand generating unit 102 executes the process in S19 by way of oneexample of a unit to generate a second type command with the pathinformation being specified in the first type command in place of theparameter value and to allocate the second type command to the firstinformation processing apparatus. Whereas if it is determined in S17that the predetermined number of same acquiring paths do not exist inthe parameter acquiring path candidate list, the wrapper commandgenerating unit 102 determines whether a character string of the commandparameter is coincident with those of all the command logs or not (S1A).If determining in S1A that the character string of the command parameteris coincident with those of all the command logs, the wrapper commandgenerating unit 102 sets this command parameter to be a fixed value.Then, the wrapper command generating unit 102 generates the wrappercommand with the fixed value in the server having a past result of theexecution of the command, i.e., in the processing target server at thepresent, and stores the wrapper command information in the wrappercommand management table (S1B).

Whereas if determining in S1A that the character string of the commandparameter is not coincident with those of all the command logs, it canbe considered that the parameter of the command in processing underwayat the present is specified by the user each time when executing thecommand. Such being the case, the wrapper command generating unit 102sets the command parameter to be a variation value. Then, the wrappercommand generating unit 102 generates the wrapper command with thevariation value in the server having the past result of the execution ofthe command, i.e., in the processing target server at the present, andstores the wrapper command information in the wrapper command managementtable (S1C).

FIG. 37 illustrates details of a uniform rule formulation process and arepresentative rule formulation process. In these processes, the wrappercommand generating unit 102 executes repetitions by the number ofviewpoints (S20).

The wrapper command generating unit 102 searches for the CIs associatedwith the configuration elements with the commands being executed in thesequence from the CI of the lowest hierarchy in the hierarchicalstructure of the reference relationships (Relations) of the CIs. Forexample, it may be sufficient that the wrapper command generating unit102 determines whether or not the wrapper command executed in the CI isdefined in the wrapper command management table in the sequence from theCI of the lowest hierarchy (S21). Then, the wrapper command generatingunit 102 sets the CI associated with the configuration element with thecommand being executed as the present CI (S22).

Then, the wrapper command generating unit 102 obtains the parent CI ofthe present CI (which will hereinafter be termed a present parent CI).Subsequently, the wrapper command generating unit 102 determines whetheror not there exist CIs (which will hereinafter be termed sibling CIs)associated with the configuration elements having the same wrappercommand under the present parent CI (S23).

If determining in S23 that the sibling CIs exist, the wrapper commandgenerating unit 102 executes formulating the uniform rule (S24). (1):The wrapper command generating unit 102 sets, as a key for determiningthe sibling CI, an attribute value held in common between the siblingCIs but different from the values of the child CIs other than thesibling CIs. (2): The wrapper command generating unit 102 adds, to theparent CI, a wrapper command name, a list of the child CIs (sibling CIs)having the same wrapper command and the keys for determining the siblingCIs as the uniform rule. (3): The wrapper command generating unit 102shifts to the present parent CI. Namely, the wrapper command generatingunit 102 sets the present parent CI as the present CI and shifts to ahierarchy ranked higher by one level. The wrapper command generatingunit 102 executes the processes in S23 and S24 by way of one example ofa setting unit to set a second type command in referrer configurationinformation. Furthermore, the wrapper command generating unit 102executes the process in S24 by way of one example of a unit to set atuple of common attribute values in the referrer configurationinformation.

Next, the wrapper command generating unit 102 determines whether thereexists the parent CI of the CI of the shift destination or not (S25). Ifit is determined in S25 that the parent CI exists, the wrapper commandgenerating unit 102 loops the control back to S22. Then, the wrappercommand generating unit 102 executes the processes from S22 onward withrespect to the child CIs under the present parent CI of the shiftdestination. Whereas if it is determined in S25 that the parent CI doesnot exist, the wrapper command generating unit 102 advances the controlto S27. The wrapper command generating unit 102 executes the processesin S22, S24 and S25 by way of one example of a unit to repeat (theprocess).

Moreover, if determining in S23 that the sibling CIs do not exist, thewrapper command generating unit 102 executes formulating therepresentative rule (S26). To be specific, the wrapper command executingunit 103 adds, to the CI of the highest-order hierarchy, the wrappercommand name and the path information of the paths leading to the onlychild CI (representative CI) having the wrapper command as therepresentative rule (S26). Thereafter, the wrapper command generatingunit 102 advances the control to S27. The wrapper command generatingunit 102 executes the process in S26 by way of one example of a unit toset reference information in predetermined configuration information forreferring to each of plural sets of referent configuration informationin which each second type command is set. Further, the CI of thehighest-order hierarchy is one example of the predeterminedconfiguration information. Still further, the path information, set asthe representative rule, of the paths leading to the only child CI(representative CI) having the wrapper command is one example of thereference information.

Then, the wrapper command generating unit 102 determines whether or notthere exists an unprocessed CI in the CIs associated with theconfiguration elements with the commands being executed in thehierarchical structure of the CIs in terms of the present viewpoint(S27). If it is determined in S27 that the unprocessed CI exists, thewrapper command generating unit 102 loops back the control to S22.Whereas if it is determined in S27 that the unprocessed CI does notexist, the wrapper command generating unit 102 executes the repetitionsby the number of the viewpoints and thereafter finishes processing.

FIG. 38 illustrates details of the inheritance of the wrapper command.This process is applied to, e.g., a CI with the wrapper command beingstill undefined in newly added CIs. In FIG. 38, the CI with the wrappercommand being still undefined is called a non-setting CI. In thisprocess, the wrapper command generating unit 102 reads the key fordetermining the sibling CI from the parent CI (S40). The wrapper commandgenerating unit 102 executes the process in S40 as a unit to read thetuple of common attribute values.

Then, the wrapper command generating unit 102 determines whether or notthe attribute value of the configuration information of the non-settingCI is coincident by a predetermined value, e.g., 30% or more with thevalue of the key for determining the sibling CI held by the parent CI(S41). The wrapper command generating unit 102 executes the process inS41 by way of one example of a unit to extract another referentconfiguration information containing a predetermined or larger number ofcommon attribute values.

If it is determined in S41 that the attribute value of the configurationinformation of the non-setting CI is coincident by the predetermined orlarger value with the value of the key for determining the sibling CIheld by the parent CI, the wrapper command generating unit 102 adds thenon-setting CI to the target of the wrapper command exhibiting a highestratio of the coincident value of the key for determining the sibling CIin a uniform rule table held by the parent CI (S42). Then, the wrappercommand generating unit 102 copies, to the non-setting CI, the wrappercommand held by the sibling CI of an adding destination of thenon-setting CI (S43). The wrapper command generating unit 102 executesthe processes in S42 and S43 as an example of a unit to allocate asecond type command.

Whereas if the attribute value of the configuration information of thenon-setting CI is not coincident by the predetermined or larger valuewith the value of the key for determining the sibling CI held by theparent CI, it is considered that the non-setting CI has an operationpurpose different from those of the existing CIs under the parent CI.Therefore, the wrapper command generating unit 102 excludes thisnon-setting CI from the inheritance target CIs of the wrapper command.

FIG. 39 illustrates the batchwise execution of the commands and detailsof preventing the malfunction. The wrapper command executing unit 103,when accepting, e.g., an instruction of executing batchwise the wrappercommands from the manager, executes a process in FIG. 39.

In this process, the wrapper command executing unit 103 determineswhether or not there exists the representative rule of the wrappercommands undergoing the designation of the batchwise execution (S51). Ifthe representative rule exists, the wrapper command executing unit 103shifts to the representative CI (S52). Then, the wrapper commandexecuting unit 103 executes repeating the following processes by thenumber of targets described in the uniform rule in the representative CI(S53).

Subsequently, the wrapper command executing unit 103 recursively shiftsto the target CI till reaching a CI of the terminal (S54). Then, in thetarget CI, the wrapper command executing unit 103 executes a malfunctionpreventive check of the target CI. Subsequently, the wrapper commandexecuting unit 103 determines whether or not the wrapper command may beexecuted as a result of the malfunction preventive check of the targetCI (S55). The wrapper command executing unit 103 executes the process inS55 by way of one example of a unit to collect a tuple of present valuesagainst the tuple of common attribute values. Further, the wrappercommand executing unit 103 executes the process in S55 by way of oneexample of a unit to compare the tuple of common attribute values withthe tuple of present values.

As a result of the determination made in S55, if the wrapper command maybe executed, the wrapper command executing unit 103 executes the wrappercommand (S56). More specifically, the wrapper command executing unit 103acquires the attributes of the configuration information from theparameter acquiring path specified in the wrapper command, andinterprets the wrapper command into the normal commands. Then, thewrapper command executing unit 103 remotely executes, e.g., the commandon the server associated with the target CI. Further, the wrappercommand executing unit 103 executes the process in S56 by way of oneexample of a unit to acquire the parameter value and a unit to executethe second type command.

Whereas if the wrapper command cannot be executed as a result of thedetermination made in S55, the wrapper command executing unit 103 expelsthe target CI out of the sibling CIs. To be more specific, the wrappercommand executing unit 103 deletes the target CI from the definitions ofthe sibling CIs under the parent CI (S57). The wrapper command executingunit 103 executes the process in S57 by way of one example of a unit toexclude one information processing apparatus from an allocation targetof the second type command.

<Effect of Working Example>

As discussed above, the management apparatus 10 enables the commands tobe executed batchwise over the servers each performing the operationmanagement activity. Namely, on the premise that the data collectingunit 2 collects the configuration information of the respectiveconfiguration elements and the command logs in the informationprocessing system, the wrapper command generating unit 102 generates thewrapper command with respect to each of the configuration elements. Themanagement apparatus 10 generates the wrapper commands and makes thedefinitions thereof in the parent CI of the hierarchical structure ofthe CIs, thereby unifying the operation management procedures pertainingto the plurality of configuration elements (servers etc) associated withthe child CIs and enabling the workload of the management activity to bereduced. Furthermore, the management apparatus 10 registers, in theparent CI, the keys for determining the sibling CIs with respect to thesibling CIs generated in the way of being associated with theconfiguration elements with the common wrapper command being executed,whereby it is possible to easily execute the processes such as thedetermination of the sibling CIs and the inheritance for the unprocessedCIs. Namely, the management apparatus 10 can easily execute thedetermination of grouping the CIs into the sibling CIs and theinheritance of the wrapper command by utilizing the attributes being incommon among the sibling CIs and distinguishable from other CIs underthe parent CI as the keys for determining the sibling CIs.

The management apparatus 10 defines the representative rule in the CI ofthe highest-order hierarchy, whereby it is feasible to speed up theshift to the CI associated with the configuration element with thewrapper command being executed. The formulation of the uniform rule andthe inheritance of the wrapper command enable the management apparatus10 to distribute the wrapper commands to the servers each performing theoperation management activity by the same rule over the operationhierarchy.

Moreover, the management apparatus 10 recursively processes thegeneration of the wrapper commands, the formulation of the uniform rule,etc with respect to the parent-to-child relationship of the CIs havingthe hierarchical structure. Accordingly, the management apparatus 10 cancarry out batchwise the generation of the wrapper commands and theformulation of the uniform rule over the plurality of hierarchies whiletracing the hierarchical structure of the CIs from the CI of theterminal toward the root.

In the generation of the wrapper commands, what the predetermined orlarger number of same command parameters exist in the command logbecomes the parameter acquiring candidate list (S14 in FIG. 35), wherebysuch a possibility can be enhanced that the commands between the pluralconfiguration elements can be unified by the wrapper command. Further,the wrapper command generating unit 102 generates the wrapper command ifa predetermined or larger number of same acquiring paths exist in theparameter acquiring candidate list (S17 in FIG. 36), and hence such apossibility can be further enhanced that the commands between the pluralconfiguration elements can be unified by the wrapper command.

The management apparatus 10 executes the wrapper commands batchwise inthe servers with the commands being executable without being aware ofthe difference between the operation environments from the highest-orderhierarchy such as the data center etc in the hierarchical structure ofthe CIs. The management apparatus 10 performs the check for preventingthe malfunction before executing the command. Accordingly, in a casewhere the configuration information is changed, the execution of theincorrect command can be restrained. Further, the configurationinformation of the CIs etc can be collected when the data collectingunit 2 such as the MDR conducts the operation management. Therefore, themanagement apparatus 10 can reduce the possibility of executing theincorrect command in such a case also that the change occurs in theconfiguration elements of the management target information processingsystem. For example, it may be sufficient that the data collecting unit2 such as the MDR collects the configuration information at apredetermined cycle, at timing when the change occurs in theconfiguration or at timing when requested from the management apparatus10, etc.

The management apparatus 10 can execute the processes in the workingexample by reducing the pre-definitions to the greatest possible degreebecause of inputting the command logs recorded when conducting theoperation management activity and the configuration informationautomatically collected by the CMDB. With this contrivance, themanagement apparatus 10 expands an applied range of automation to arange in which the automation cannot be attained so far and decreasesthe number of operations, thus realizing improvements in activity costand in activity quality.

In the present embodiment, when generating the wrapper command, themanagement apparatus 10 generates the wrapper command by changing overthe hierarchical structure information of the CMDB to be utilized suchas changing over the viewpoint of the activity, the viewpoint of thevirtualization design, etc. Then, as described in S18 of FIG. 36, thewrapper command generating unit 102 acquires, as the parameter acquiringpath information, the acquiring paths with the minimum referencerelationship (Relation) count of the relationships traced till obtainingthe value (the attribute in the configuration information) in theparameter acquiring path candidates. Hence, the management apparatus 10can reduce the cost and a labor for acquiring the parameters whenexecuting the wrapper commands.

Moreover, in the embodiment, the management apparatus 10, as illustratedin FIGS. 8, 10, 12, 14 and 15, hierarchizes and thus unifies the wrappercommands in a way that refers to the information of the CMDB. Therefore,the manager can also execute batchwise the commands from theconfiguration element associated with the highest-order CI. Further, themanager can also execute the command by selecting the configurationelement associated with the low-order CI specified by the representativerule. Namely, the manager can execute batchwise the operation managementcommands, execute the operation management command by selecting thespecified environment or execute the operation management command byselectively excluding the specified environment.

<Non-Transitory Computer-Readable Recording Medium>

A program for making a computer, other machines and devices (which willhereinafter be referred to as the computer etc) realize any one of thefunctions can be recorded on a non-transitory recording medium readableby the computer etc. Then, the computer etc is made to read and executethe program on this recording medium, whereby the function thereof canbe provided.

Herein, the recording medium readable by the computer etc connotes arecording medium capable of accumulating information such as data andprograms electrically, magnetically, optically, mechanically or bychemical action, which can be read by the computer etc. Among theserecording mediums, for example, a flexible disc, a magneto-optic disc, aCD-ROM, a CD-R/W, a DVD, a Blu-ray disc, a DAT, an 8 mm tape, a memorycard such as a flash memory, etc are given as those removable from thecomputer. Further, a hard disc, a ROM (Read-Only Memory), etc are givenas the recording mediums fixed within the computer etc.

All example and conditional language recited herein are intended forpedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the inventionand the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, andare to be construed as being without limitation to such specificallyrecited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of suchexamples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority andinferiority of the invention. Although the embodiment(s) of the presentinvention(s) has(have) been described in detail, it should be understoodthat the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be madehereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A management apparatus, comprising a memory; anda processor coupled to the memory and the processor configured to: readconfiguration information of each of information processing apparatuses,which contains an attribute value of each of the information processingapparatuses and a reference relationship between the informationprocessing apparatuses, and log information containing a first typecommand executed by each of the information processing apparatuses;check a parameter value specified by the first type command with theconfiguration information of each of the information processingapparatuses; extract path information indicating a relationship betweenfirst configuration information of a first information processingapparatus with the first type command being executed and secondconfiguration information of a second information processing apparatusthat contains an attribute value coincident with the parameter valuespecified by the first type command executed by the first informationprocessing apparatus; generate a second type command with the pathinformation being specified in the first type command in place of theparameter value, the path information indicating the relationshipbetween the first configuration information of the first informationprocessing apparatus and the second configuration information of thesecond information processing apparatus; and allocate the second typecommand to the first information processing apparatus with the firsttype command being executed.
 2. The management apparatus according toclaim 1, the processor further configured to: set, in referrerconfiguration information, the second type command allocated in commonbetween a plurality of information processing apparatuses associatedwith plural sets of referent configuration information that are referredto from the referrer configuration information with respect to areference relationship of the referrer configuration information and theplural sets of referent configuration information; and repeat, when thereference relationship is repeated over a plurality of hierarchies, aprocess to set the second type command in further next referrerconfiguration information of the plurality of hierarchies with respectto further next referrer configuration information and further nextreferent configuration information that is referred to from the nextreferrer configuration information.
 3. The management apparatusaccording to claim 2, the processor further configured to set, in thereferrer configuration information, a tuple of common attribute valuesthat are contained in the plural sets of referent configurationinformation of a first group being referred to from the referrerconfiguration information but are not contained in another configurationinformation other than the plural sets of referent configurationinformation of the first group.
 4. The management apparatus according toclaim 3, the processor further configured to: extract another referentconfiguration information containing a predetermined or larger number ofcommon attribute values contained in the tuple of the common attributevalues, the another referent configuration information being other thanthe first group and the another referent configuration information beingreferred to from the referrer configuration information; and allocatethe second type command allocated in common between the plurality ofinformation processing apparatuses associated with the plural sets ofreferent configuration information of the first group to anotherinformation processing apparatuses associated with the extracted anotherreferent configuration information other than the first group.
 5. Themanagement apparatus according to claim 3, the processor furtherconfigured to: collect a tuple of present values against the tuple ofcommon attribute values from one information processing apparatusassociated with one set of referent configuration information containingthe tuple of common attribute values set in the referrer configurationinformation; compare the tuple of common attribute values with the tupleof collected present values; and exclude, when a predetermined or largerdegree of discrepancy exists between the tuple of common attributevalues and the tuple of the collected present values as a result of thecomparison, the one information processing apparatus from allocationtargets of the second type command.
 6. The management apparatusaccording to claim 2, the processor further configured to set, inpredetermined configuration information, reference information forreferring to each of plural sets of referent configuration informationin which each second type command is set, when there does not exist acommon second type command allocated in common between the plurality ofinformation processing apparatuses associated with the plural sets ofreferent configuration information being referred to from the referrerconfiguration information with respect to the reference relationship ofthe referrer configuration information and the plural sets of referentconfiguration information.
 7. The management apparatus according toclaim 1, the processor further configured to: acquire a parameter valuefrom the path information specified by the second type command; andexecute the second type command by specifying the acquired attributevalue in the parameter value.
 8. A management method, comprising:reading configuration information of each of information processingapparatuses, which contains an attribute value of each of theinformation processing apparatuses and a reference relationship betweenthe information processing apparatuses, and log information containing afirst type command executed by each of the information processingapparatuses; checking a parameter value specified by the first typecommand with the configuration information of each of the informationprocessing apparatuses; extracting path information indicating arelationship between first configuration information of a firstinformation processing apparatus with the first type command beingexecuted and second configuration information of a second informationprocessing apparatus that contains an attribute value coincident withthe parameter value specified by the first type command executed by thefirst information processing apparatus; generating by a processor, asecond type command with the path information being specified in thefirst type command in place of the parameter value, the path informationindicating the relationship between the first configuration informationof the first information processing apparatus and the secondconfiguration information of the second information processingapparatus; and allocating the second type command to the firstinformation processing apparatus with the first type command beingexecuted.
 9. The management method according to claim 8, furthercomprising: setting, in referrer configuration information, the secondtype command allocated in common between a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses associated with plural sets of referentconfiguration information that are referred to from the referrerconfiguration information with respect to a reference relationship ofthe referrer configuration information and the plural sets of referentconfiguration information; and repeating, when the referencerelationship is repeated over a plurality of hierarchies, a process toset the second type command in further next referrer configurationinformation of the plurality of hierarchies with respect to further nextreferrer configuration information of the plurality of hierarchies andfurther next referent configuration information that is referred to fromthe next referrer configuration information.
 10. The management methodaccording to claim 8, comprising setting, in the referrer configurationinformation, a tuple of common attribute values that are contained inthe plural sets of referent configuration information of a first groupbeing referred to from the referrer configuration information but arenot contained in another configuration information other than the pluralsets of referent configuration information of the first group.
 11. Themanagement method according to claim 10, further comprising: extractinganother referent configuration information containing a predetermined orlarger number of common attribute values contained in the tuple of thecommon attribute values, the another referent configuration informationbeing other than the first group and the another referent configurationinformation being referred to from the referrer configurationinformation; and allocating the second type command allocated in commonbetween the information processing apparatuses associated with theplural sets of referent configuration information of the first group toanother information processing apparatuses associated with the extractedanother referent configuration information other than the first group.12. The management method according to claim 10, further comprising:collecting a tuple of present values against the tuple of commonattribute values from one information processing apparatus associatedwith one set of referent configuration information containing the tupleof common attribute values set in the referrer configurationinformation; comparing the tuple of common attribute values with thetuple of collected present values; and excluding, when a predeterminedor larger degree of discrepancy exists between the tuple of commonattribute values and the tuple of the collected present values as aresult of the comparison, the one information processing apparatus fromthe allocation targets of the second type command.
 13. The managementmethod according to 9, further setting, in predetermined configurationinformation, reference information for referring to each of plural setsof referent configuration information in which each second type commandis set, when there does not exist a common second type command allocatedin common between the plurality of information processing apparatusesassociated with the plural sets of referent configuration informationbeing referred to from the referrer configuration information withrespect to the reference relationship of the referrer configurationinformation and the plural sets of referent configuration information.14. The management method according to claim 8, further comprising:acquiring a parameter value from the path information specified by thesecond type command; and executing the second type command by specifyingthe acquired attribute value in the parameter value.
 15. Acomputer-readable non-transitory storage medium storing a program tocause a computer execute: reading configuration information of each ofinformation processing apparatuses, which contains an attribute value ofeach of the information processing apparatuses and a referencerelationship between the information processing apparatuses, and loginformation containing a first type command executed by each of theinformation processing apparatuses; checking a parameter value specifiedby the first type command with the configuration information of each ofthe information processing apparatuses; extracting path informationindicating a relationship between first configuration information of afirst information processing apparatus with the first type command beingexecuted and second configuration information of a second informationprocessing apparatus that contains an attribute value coincident withthe parameter value specified by the first type command executed by thefirst information processing apparatus; generating a second type commandwith the path information being specified in the first type command inplace of the parameter value, the path information indicating therelationship between the first configuration information of the firstinformation processing apparatus and the second configurationinformation of the second information processing apparatus; andallocating the second type command to the first information processingapparatus with the first type command being executed.
 16. Thecomputer-readable non-transitory storage medium according to claim 15,causing the computer further execute: setting, in referrer configurationinformation, the second type command allocated in common between aplurality of information processing apparatuses associated with pluralsets of referent configuration information that are referred to from thereferrer configuration information with respect to a referencerelationship of the referrer configuration information and the pluralsets of referent configuration information; and repeating, when thereference relationship is repeated over a plurality of hierarchies, aprocess to set the second type command in further next referrerconfiguration information of the plurality of hierarchies with respectto the further next referrer configuration information of the pluralityof hierarchies and further next referent configuration information thatis referred to from the next referrer configuration information.
 17. Thecomputer-readable non-transitory storage medium according to claim 16,causing the computer further execute setting, in the referrerconfiguration information, a tuple of common attribute values that arecontained in the plural sets of referent configuration information of afirst group being referred to from the referrer configurationinformation but are not contained in another configuration informationother than the plural sets of referent configuration information of thefirst group.
 18. The computer-readable non-transitory storage mediumaccording to claim 17, causing the computer further execute: extractinganother referent configuration information containing a predetermined orlarger number of common attribute values contained in the tuple of thecommon attribute values, the another referent configuration informationbeing other than the first group and the another referent configurationinformation being referred to from the referrer configurationinformation; and allocating the second type command allocated in commonbetween the information processing apparatuses associated with theplural sets of referent configuration information of the first group toanother information processing apparatuses associated with the extractedanother referent configuration information other than the first group.19. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium according toclaim 17, causing the computer further execute: collecting a tuple ofpresent values against the tuple of common attribute values from oneinformation processing apparatus associated with one set of referentconfiguration information containing the tuple of common attributevalues set in the referrer configuration information; comparing thetuple of common attribute values with the tuple of collected presentvalues; and excluding, if a predetermined or larger degree ofdiscrepancy exists between the tuple of common attribute values and thetuple of the collected present values as a result of the comparison, theone information processing apparatus from the allocation targets of thesecond type command.
 20. The computer-readable non-transitory storagemedium according to claim 16, causing the computer further executesetting, in predetermined configuration information, referenceinformation for referring to each of plural sets of referentconfiguration information in which each second type command is set, whenthere does not exist a common second type command allocated in commonbetween the plurality of information processing apparatuses associatedwith the plural sets of referent configuration information beingreferred to from the referrer configuration information with respect tothe reference relationship of the referrer configuration information andthe plural sets of referent configuration information.
 21. Thecomputer-readable non-transitory storage medium according to claim 15,causing the computer further execute: acquiring a parameter value fromthe path information specified by the second type command; and executingthe second type command by specifying the acquired attribute value inthe parameter value.